The night time was quiet for the first time in a long while.

Sleeping in his own bed, in his own cabin, Hinata wasn't surrounded by the buzzing of computer fans or the rumbling of the oxygen tanks in the NWP room.

He actually felt sleepy for once when he'd laid down, but he'd already told Komaeda that he could spend the night if he wanted to.

And Komaeda always wanted to spend the night with him.

Of course, he made sure that Komaeda was instructed to only slide into his room when no one else was around.

Hinata wasn't ashamed of him-well, maybe he was ashamed of himself for doing this sort of thing-but no one else needed to know.

Not yet, anyway.

The last thing he wanted any of his classmates to think was that he was only wasting time fooling around with the person who tried to kill everyone in the program, and not at all concerned with continuing his efforts to bring the remaining people out of their comas.

Kuzuryuu and Owari would never forgive him if they thought he wasn't trying his hardest.

What good is taking a break if I just feel guilty...

But Komaeda was always so pleased to sleep with him, wrapping his arm around Hinata's neck and resting his head against his bare chest when they'd finished, breathing heavily, their bodies sticking together with sweat.

"Hinata-kun, do you feel any better?"

His hair tickled his face, so Hinata pet him a little to brush it away.

A breeze blowing through the window provided a little relief to how hot his face felt.

"Yeah...I do….thanks...you're, um, really good at that..."

"Hmm?" Komaeda looked up at him, eyes piercing into his soul.

"You know what I mean!" Hinata felt himself blushing all over again and turned his head away stubbornly.

"Well, Hinata-kun, I have to say that you're much better than I am!"

"Don't...don't say that…"

"Eh? Why not? It's the truth?"

Hinata sighed heavily, felt the breeze sifting through the window again.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked out to the sway palm leaves between the cracks of the blinds. "I don't like being the best. Look, I haven't talked about it, but...the truth is…"

He sat up, Komaeda following suit and watching him with silent concern.

Komaeda waited patiently for him to continue; Hinata was grateful that he wasn't pressing it while he tried to piece together the most delicate way to say it without sounding selfish or ungrateful.

Because only a whimsical brat would beg for something their entire lives, only to turn up their nose when it was given to them or to decide at the last minute it wasn't what they wanted.

"Whenever someone says I'm the best, it's like...they aren't praising me. They're complimenting that guy, and I'm not him, y'know? At least, I don't want anyone to see me as him. I don't want you to see me as him, because I'm not some Ultimate Hope...I just have all these powers left over...along with the responsibility to try to undo at least a little bit of what he did."

Komaeda listened to him, watched how Hinata curled his knees up to his chest and crossed his arms, refusing to look at him.

"But this burden is all my fault. I asked for this. And if all of this hadn't have happened, I'd still be upset at myself for not being good at anything. So...I don't have a right to complain. I don't even know what I'm saying right now…but regardless, I don't want any praise...I don't actually deserve it..."

I didn't have a right to ask Naegi-san for those contacts, either…

Komaeda took a breath, scooted closer to him, and put a hand to his warm shoulder.

"Hinata-kun," he said solemnly. "I only see you as yourself, of course! You're the same Hinata-kun that tried so desperately to talk some sense into me back during the game, and the same Hinata-kun who gave me the most thrilling challenge of my virtual lifetime! That was you, y'know, completely without-ahem-that guy's influence, cracking each murder case on your own and seeing right through my every move! Even with my luck!"

Hinata blinked, loosened his arms, and suddenly felt foolish for never having thought of that.

"Hinata-kun, I think-and this could be the rambling of someone who has no idea what they're talking about-that maybe you didn't let yourself dwell on your own accomplishments, because you've already put yourself in the shadow of someone who just so happened to steal your physical body for a time!"

"Well…"

He couldn't argue with that, and although it stung to have someone else pointing it out, at the same time, he felt...relieved.

Because that explanation made sense.

No matter how talented I am now, I can't look at myself from any other perspective...Komaeda has been watching me this entire time, of course…

Hinata looked over at him, still at a loss of what to say.

"And furthermore, Hinata-kun, I never said you were the best! I just said you were better than me, which isn't a high bar to surpass!" Komaeda laughed a little. "I'd like it personally if you used your hips a little more!"

He bumped his hip against Hinata's for emphasis.

Hinata felt his face heat up and playfully elbowed him in the rib, completely caught off guard. "H-Hey, I told you I was tired…! You've never complained before..."

Komaeda laughed and clutched his side. "Th-that actually tickles! And I wasn't complaining!"

Hinata shook his head and laid back down, hurriedly turning away from him, head hitting the pillow. "Alright, seriously...I'm tired…let's get some sleep...and, uh, thanks. I feel better now..."

The moment the words left his mouth, Hinata realized that thanking Komaeda probably wouldn't play out well. It'd just be an opening for him to discredit himself more.

He'd have been better off not saying anything at all.

And it wasn't fair, because if Komaeda was allowed to make him feel better, then he should be allowed to at least thank him without having to listen to him demean himself.

But to his surprise, Komaeda said, "of course, Hinata-kun!" and nestled his face against his back.

Surprisingly enough, by the next night, a huge box had been left at the end of the doc.

Whoever FF had sent to deliver it didn't have the courtesy to at least leat someone on the island know there was a package.

Koizumi had found it, and Owari carried it back to to the hotel where Kuzuuryu, Sonia, and Souda had been playing a game of air hockey.

Because Hinata was back to confining himself inside of the NWP room, Sonia went to go tell him that a package had arrived.

"I don't get why I have to be the person who opens it," Hinata was actually annoyed at having been interrupted from his nightly check up to do this, but followed her back, anyway.

There was a pair of scissors behind the front desk.

Everybody knew that.

He was expecting his contacts, yes, but they always sent some other supplies like emergency rations or flares, which didn't make such since considering no one from FF, who knows how many miles away, would even see an emergency flare.

Sure enough, soon as he opened the box, Owari snatched the single bag of beef jerky and ran with it; there were some batteries for the emergency radio, a few lighters, a box of donuts crushed underneath some large textbooks, a ziplock bag full of...mixed CDs that actually had music on them, and a smaller box with Hinata's name written on it that diverted his attention from anything else in the package.

He grabbed the smaller box, excitement coursing through him suddenly.

It's lame, but...I'm actually excited about getting these. I'll finally look normal again!

While the others continued to dig through the box, Hinata made a beeline for his cabin.

No sooner than he shut his door did he get sit at his desk, grab his letter opener, and start cutting through the tape.

As confident as he felt in the fact that he was himself after Komaeda's encouragement last night, Hinata still didn't want to have a red eye.

It still looked weird.

There was no getting around that.

And that was fine, because now Hinata at least had a way of blending in.

But as he opened the box and spotted the two vials containing the contacts, along with a container and a bottle full of solution, his heart sank.

"N-No way...how did this...get mixed up…?"

He grabbed the vials, held them in his hand as if his vision had suddenly failed him, but there was no mistake: the contacts were the same deep red as his left eye.

Hinata set them back in the box, slide the box to the edge of the table, and let his forehead smack onto the table limply.

He could almost hear Kamukura laughing at him, if Kamukura had the ability to laugh.

Maybe he was. Hinata was certain that he was at least mocking him.

I don't care! Whatever...I deserve this…

He balled his hands into fists and wrapped his arms around his head.

I wanted to stand out my entire life and now I have it...I deserve for people to stare at me…

No matter how he tried to fight it, Hinata could feel his eyes stinging and his throat hurting.

I'm not allowed to get out of it…

But before Hinata could resign himself to burying his face in his pillow and crying it out, there were two knocks on the door.

"Hinata-kun!" Komaeda called from the other side.

"Wh-what is it?" Hinata cleared his throat, wiped his eyes, and attempted to compose himself.

"You forgot a letter Naegi-san included in the box addressed to you specifically, and also I brought you some coffee! You weren't in the lab so I thought you might be here."

"O-Oh...yeah…" Hinata stood up and opened the door him.

Komaeda strolled in and handed him the letter.

Hinata knew this was probably about his employment-if that was what they were going to call it-and sat on his bed with Komaeda plopping next to him.

The letter didn't say much of interest. It was what Hinata expected: some formal words about how they wanted to see him at the headquarters in person to decide the terms of his employment, how any inclination of Despair wouldn't be tolerated, and that they'd like to see him "continue recovery". He'd be meeting them in exactly ten days.

"Hinata-kun, it says you can bring another person with you!"

"Yeah...it does…" He sighed, folding the letter up and placing it on his night stand.

"Who ever will you pick to-"

"You know you're going with me."

Komaeda, who had been called out, didn't say anything for a second, noticed the pouting look on Hinata's face, and then turned his attention to the open box on the desk. "What else did you get?"

"You're always so nosy…"

Komaeda jumped up and went to investigate, gasping loudly at the contact lenses and pulling them out.

"Hinata-kun, what are these? You...you already have a red eye…"

Hinata almost wanted to say that Komaeda's bad luck must have rubbed off on him, because what other explanation could there be for such a coincidental mix up, but thought better of it.

If Komaeda thought his luck was affecting other people again...Hinata didn't want to think about it.

"Y-Yeah, I do…"

Komaeda looked at the vials curiously, then back to the letter, then back to Hinata, and smiled brightly.

"Hinata-kun, I'm flattered!"

"Eh?"

"You bought these so I could wear one, and we could match when we went to the Future Foundation! You really aren't embarrassed of me at all! I-I have to say..." His eyes were welling up. "I never thought anyone would be so unashamed of having me around them like this…"

Hinata hadn't even known that he could take someone with him to the FF meeting. Naegi had never mentioned that being a possibility.

"H-Hey, Komaeda, calm down...there's no need to cry about it...I just figured...why not match? We'll be getting lots of weird looks for who we are, anyway. Might as well go all out, right?" Hinata mumbled, going along with it.

Komaeda nodded enthusiastically.

For Komaeda to automatically assume I did this for him, he has some amount of faith in my feelings for him...I'm glad…

...Or...is he just giving me a way out of having to explain…? No, Komaeda can't read my mind…I'm pretty sure...

Either way...Komaeda, you've really grown, haven't you...

Hinata stood up and motioned towards the bathroom. "You wanna try putting one in now?"

He was already taking the solution and lens case out of the box and opening them.

"Yes!" Komaeda scanned the back of the vial for instructions as he followed Hinata.

He'd never worn contact lenses before, although he'd thought about it.

"Hinata-kun, I really feel like today is extra lucky for me!"

Maybe Komaeda's luck had been responsible for the mix up, after all, but Hinata couldn't bring himself to be sad about it now.